This invention relates to a yarn carrier with a rib which prevents a nested plurality of carriers from being locked together so tightly that separation is difficult. The invention is directed generally towards yarn carriers which are frusto-conical in shape and which have smooth, uninterrupted inner walls. Such yarn carriers are usually referred to as cones in the textile industry and are usually made of compressed, impregnated paper fiber. These cones are typically nested for shipment and storage to save space and to keep as much of the surface of the cones as possible covered and therefore clean.
A long length of nested cones is referred to as a "stick", and forms a useful way in which to store and transport cones. However, the cones, whether paper or plastic, have sufficient compressibility so that if the cones are nested together too tightly, it is often almost impossible to separate them without damage. This results because the inner and outer walls are substantially parallel along their entire length. Since the inner and outer walls are usually smooth and uninterrupted, a relatively large surface area of frictional contact exists.
The frictional characteristics of the cones surfaces are very carefully controlled so that the cones will properly seat on and rotate with the chucks on which they are mounted, and so yarn will properly wind onto and not slough off of the outer surface. For these reasons, alteration of the frictional characteristics of the inner and outer wall surfaces is impractical.
So far as is known, no prior solution to this problem exists except, perhaps, exercising care not to nest the cones too tightly to begin with. This is a very unsatisfactory solution. The invention disclosed in this application solves the problem in a very simple, inexpensive and almost foolproof manner.